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Monnett wins 5K, 10K events at NCAC Championships
Claudia Monnett of Cloverdale recorded her second win of the meet on Saturday and the DePauw Tigers women's team totaled 51 points on the way to an eighth-place finish at the North Coast Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Granville, Ohio.
Ohio Wesleyan won with 179 points, while Denison was second with 139 points.
Monnett paced the Tigers with their only Friday championship in the two-day event as she won the 10,000 meters in 38:45.88. On Saturday, Monnett crossed first in the 5,000 meters in 18:01.10.
"Claudia had a great weekend," DePauw coach Kori Stoffregen said. "Winning both conference championships in the 5K and 10K is an outstanding accomplishment."
In Friday's 10K race, Stoffregen said the strategy was to hope that the pace of the race would be slow and she could just "sit on the leaders and kick at the end" to save some energy for Saturday's 5K.
"The race went that way and she won easily with a great last lap," he said. "In the 5K, our hope was that the pace would again be slow so she could kick again at the end. The pace was very solid and she had to work very hard."
Stoffregen noted that Monnett was not among the leaders with several laps left in the race, but made a great comeback.
"She was in fifth place with 800 meters to go and made a big charge," he said. "With one lap to go, she caught the leaders and ran a great last lap to hold off another runner to win."
The Tigers will compete Thursday and Friday in the Gregory Invitational at North Central College in Carthage, Ill.
Monnett's times have been excellent, Stoffregen said, but do not yet qualify her for the NCAA Championships later this month.
"She is running very well right now, and we hope to get a fast paced 5K in the next week or two," he said. "She has never run better than she is right now, so we are hopeful, and she has two weeks to try and get a qualifying time.
Stoffregen noted that Monnett will need to cut 45 seconds off her time in the 5K.
In other DePauw results, the Tigers picked up 14 points in the pole vault as Dilan Palmer was second at 3.36 meters (11-00.25) and Rachel Gutish third at 34.26 meters (10-8.25).
Ashley Hash turned in an all-conference performance as well in the high jump as she cleared 1.66 meters (5-5.25) to finish second.
Maggie Royalty turned in a seventh-place finish in the 100 meters (13.07). Turning in eighth-place finishes were Katie Manalo in the shot put (11.54 meters/37-10.5) and the hammer throw (38.87 meters/127-6) as well as Hannah Adams in the javelin (30.84 meters/101-2).
The Tigers' 4x100 relay finished sixth in 51.31 seconds, while the 4x400 relay team was eighth in 4:34.89.